2013/07/04 - Carnet TIR

On 4th July 2013 Andrei Yurevitch Belyaninov, Head of Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, send the letter N01-11/28474 to the Heads of Regional Customs and subordinate Customs Authoristies concerning the use of Carnet TIR.

With this letter the Head of Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation declares invalid the Guarantee of the Association International Automobile Transporters and insists that the Heads of Regional Customs and subordinate Customs Authorities request for TIR transports entering the Russian Federation a national guarantee as foreseen in art. 87 and 217 the Customs Code of the Customs Union.

According to the communication published on 5th July 2013 on the Federal Customs Service's website, this measure will enter into force on 14th August 2013 (this communication is no longer available on the web-site of FCS)

The measure is heavily contested by business and international community. Nevertheless so far Federal Customs stays on his position and maintains the plan to implement the measure from 14th August 2013.

On 27th August 2013 a special of the TIR ExB took place. The full text of the conclusions of this meeting can be found on the UNECE web-site. The TIR ExB summarises his conclusions as follows:

"13. In summary, the Board:

was of the view that the FCS decision would be in breach of the TIR Convention;

urged FCS to properly apply the TIR Convention and to abandon the introduction of the announced measure;

called upon the parties concerned to accelerate the negotiations and find solutions which would remove the concerns raised by FCS;

declared its readiness to further assist the Russian Federation in finding ways and means to ensure smooth functioning of the TIR procedure in Russia, in line with modern Customs and business requirements.

14. The member of TIRExB from the Russian Federation expressed his reservations with regard to some of the above conclusions"

AsMAP appealed to the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation with the application for invalidation of the letter of Federal Customs Service of Russia from 04.07.2013 № 01-11/28474 «On International Carriage of TIR Carnets."

In accordance with the decision of the Supreme Arbitration Court of 05.09.2013 №VAS-11682/13 the claim of AsMAP was taken into consideration. A preliminary hearing is scheduled on September 30, 2013.

In addition, ASMAP appealed to the Arbitration Court of Moscow with a claim to invalidate the decision of Federal Customs Service of Russia, contained in a letter dated 04.07.2013 № 01-11/28474 «On International Carriage of TIR Carnets."

In accordance with the decision of the Arbitration Court of Moscow of 08.19.2013 case number A40-109273/2013 AsMAP's claim was accepted for consideration. A preliminary hearing is scheduled on October 15, 2013

On 12th September 2013 the Commission of the European Union had meeting with Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation. Federal Customs Service stays on his point of view and does not want to further postpone the introduction of the announced measures.

Also in the interview published on www.tks.ru, the Head of Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, says that he sees no reason for a further postponement of the measures.

13/09/2013, tks.ru publishes on his web-site, www.tks.ru, a fax n° 01-11/40499 from 13th September 2013 of Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation saying that the measures apply for Siberian and Far East Customs administration. Tks.ru concludes from this fax that for other regions the measure will be postponed until 1st December 2013. We tried to contact FCS for comments at 16:40, but no one could be reached.

13/09/2013 17:35, the International Relations department from Federal Customs Service confirmed me on the telephone that on 14th September 2013 the announced measures will only apply for Siberian and Far East Customs administration. Until when the measures will be postponed for other regions is not confirmed.

the following letters of Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation where invalid:

№ 01-11/28474 of 04.07.2013

№ 01-18/28475 of 04.07.2013

№ 01-18/28659 of 04.07.2013

№ 01-18/28660 of 04.07.2013

the following information published by the Federal Customs Service was invalid:

information of 5th July 2013

information of 29th July 2013, "On providing security for the payment of customs duties and taxes as a guarantee for customs transit of goods."

14/10/2013: with his letter n° 01-11/45616 from 14th October 2013 the Head of Federal Customs Services, A.Y. Belyaninov declares invalid the following letters of Federal Customs Service:

N 01-11/28474 of 4th July 4 2013

N 01-11/35078 of 13th August 2013

N 01-11/40214 of 11th September 2013

N 01-11/43636 of 1st October 2013

14/10/2013: with his letter n° 01-11/45617 from 14th October 2013 the Head of Federal Custom Service, A.Y. Belyaninov reinstores measures on goods transported by Carnet TIR. Further detailed instructions are given with the letter N 01-11/45603 from 14th October 2013 and with the letter N 01-11/45600 from 14th October 2013 the measures are applied to Siberian, Far East, the Urals and the Volga Customs offices.

25/10/2013: With the letter n° 01-11/47932 from 25th October 2013 Federal Customs Service extends the additional measures further to South Customs Administration, Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo starting from 28th October 2013. (See article on TKS.RU)

06/11/2013: Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation announces on his web-site that the measures are extended to

Central Customs Administration from 12th November 2013

Pskov, Sebezh and Kingisepp customs subordinates of the North-West Customs Administration from 19th November 2013

26/11/2013:TKS.RU publishes on his web-site that the Vice-Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Igor Shuvalov, announced the political decision to postpone the abrogation of ASMAP's contract for at least 6 months.

28/11/2013: Federal Customs Service sends a letter to ASMAP that the abrogation of their agreement with Federal Customs Service is postponed until 1st July 2014.

02/12/2013:Federal Customs Service published on his web-site that the abrogation of the agreement with ASMAP is postponed until 1st July 2014 and that the handling of carnet TIR will be done according to the procedures before 29th November 2013. Which means that the complementary measures will be postponed for NW Region Выборгской, Карельской и Мурманской таможен Северо-Западного таможенного управления.

03/03/2014: IRU made public their overview of claims of Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, showing that all claims have been satisfied or are without subject (see attached file "IRU CASE OVERVIEW - EN.xlsx")

30/06/2014: With his letter 01-18/30264 from 30/06/2014 the Head of Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation further extends the period of acceptance of the guarantee of ASMAP until 30th November 2014.